A Yakima man didn't want the Covid vaccine. (He has lots of company)   Eric Mowen was hesitant because it was all so new, confusing and contradictory and he didn't really want to be a test case...BUT....he has family, and a mom and friends and in the end, he decided he would get the vaccine as much to protect them as anything else.

For The Greater Good?

So he did.  He got the Moderna shots, which in July were determined to be about 85% effective and he was fine...until he wasn't.  He says his daughter caught the virus, and in his caring for her, he caught it too.  Even though he was fully vaccinated, he caught it too.

The National Public Radio (NPR) station in Philadelphia recently posted an article about breakthrough cases of COVID-19.  " Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is firm in his belief that breakthrough cases are only those that lead to hospitalization and death.--If we consider mild cases to be breakthrough cases, we’re going to be very disappointed with this vaccine. The vaccine is doing what it should do, which is to say that 99% of people who are killed by this virus are unvaccinated and 97% of people who are hospitalized for the virus are unvaccinated. That’s a vaccine that’s working very well."

It's More About You Than Saving Others

Back to Eric Mowen and his daughter.  He says they both were sick, really sick with all the classic covid symptoms of severe headaches, body aches, nausea and loss of smell and taste.  Mowen says it took about two weeks to make his journey back to health and it was miserable along the way.  He says he can only imagine how bad it would have been without being vaccinated.

Just like Dr. Offit suggests, Mowen credits the vaccine for saving him from a worst-case scenario -- possible hospital stay, breathing issues, and more.

The Message As Moving Target

I think millions of Americans thought the message was "Wear the mask and be safe"...which isn't true,  Then the message became  "Get the vaccine and stop the spread and you can get back to normal" isn't as accurate as a message saying "Get the vaccine so if/when you get covid, you won't be in a hospital bed needed by someone who didn't"   Mowen agrees.

Back to normal?  In early August the CDC recommended, "fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in public for maximum protection from the delta variant and to lessen the risks of transmission. You should also wear a mask if you have a weakened immune system, an underlying medical condition or are at high risk for severe disease."

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